Keeping your personal information and private data away from potential identity thieves often isn’t the first thing we think about when we check out e-mail via a hotel’s free Wi-Fi, but security analysts will tell us that it should be. What’s a non-technical person to do if they don’t want their personal data to fall into the wrong hands, but they don’t want to compromise the convenience of surfing on the go? Maybe try the StealthSurfer, from Hush Communications. This device packs a lot of security and peace of mind on a USB key small enough to keep on a keychain.

I’ve used a few different StealthSurfer devices over the years, but the most recent version is a 2GB USB drive that offers a wealth of features: from IP masking to a complete portable computing environment that keeps your browsing information on the key and off your desktop or laptop. The Stealthsurfer is perfect for students who use computer labs around campus, if they’re concerned about who’ll use the machine after they log off, or for businesspeople on the go who open their laptops in coffee-shops and airports on a regular basis.

The Stealthsurfer does a number of things to protect your privacy. The device has IP masking via proxies, and the device routinely changes proxies to keep your IP address hidden from anyone who might be sitting on your network looking for data from a familiar IP. Additionally, the StealthSurfer uses Tor to protect your browsing against someone who might be doing traffic analysis to determine what you’re doing online. In both cases, the StealthSurfer uses existing technologies to move your Internet traffic around a network to help avoid detection. There are software applications that do this, but the StealthSurfer takes care of the whole thing automatically and doesn’t require you to download and install anything. More important–and especially with Tor–you don’t have to configure anything or worry that your configuration isn’t correct.

Additionally, the StealthSurfer uses MojoPac to create a completely isolated computing environment on the USB drive. MojoPac essentially turns the USB key into an extended drive where applications can be installed and run in their entirety. The StealthSurfer comes with Firefox and Thunderbird pre-installed on the key, so you can browse the Web and check your e-mail without worrying about your browsing information or e-mail cache files winding up on your computer’s local drives. All of your browsing data, saved passwords, Web history, e-mail account information, and message caches live on the StealthSurfer: Just plug it in and use the Web securely, and when you’re ready to go, disconnect the StealthSurfer, and all your data goes with you.

Additionally, MojoPac removes the need to find USB-compatible versions of your favorite applications and allows you to install just about any app and keep it and its associated data isolated to the StealthSurfer. The only downside to MojoPac is that it requires admin rights on your computer to function, which means the StealthSurfer is useless to corporate users whose IT departments don’t grant their users admin rights.

The StealthSurfer also comes with RoboForm Pro and a free HushMail account. HushMail offers encrypted e-mail via the Web or via IMAP or POP, and RoboForm is an application and add-on to Firefox that manages your passwords and account information. Your mileage may vary with the added features however; when I ran a Firefox discussion community, I quickly learned that people who love RoboForm are very passionate about it and its single sign-on capabilities, but recovering your passwords from it can be a pain, and just about every Firefox patch breaks the application. Even so, RoboForm is a logical addition to the StealthSurfer, because it provides password encryption and management in the most convenient possible way.

Using the StealthSurfer is easier than it might sound, given its highly technical features. Plug the device in, register it, and you’re essentially done. As long as the device is plugged in and you’re running the applications that live on the USB drive instead of the apps installed locally on your computer, you’re protected. You can also use the StealthSurfer as disk space if you need a place to put your files when you’re on the go.

There has been a lot of talk about identity theft, companies losing sensitive data because an exec left a laptop in a taxi, or other privacy mishaps. The StealthSurfer can help, but only so much. If you lose the thing, your data goes with it. But as long as you keep it with you, you have the benefit of some privacy. As much as the manufacturer want you to believe the StealthSurfer is the end-all of Web security, it should be made clear that the StealthSurfer doesn’t protect you from viruses, Trojan horses, or even a network administrator worth his salt, so don’t expect the device to keep your computer safe from Internet threats or to keep you from getting fired if you surf porn at the office.

What the StealthSurfer can do is make sure that no one picks up your FTP password when it’s sent in clear-text along with those files you’re uploading to your Web site from the Starbucks on the corner. The StealthSurfer can also make sure that no one gets your credit card number when you’re using an airport’s Wi-Fi to book a rental car at the other end of your trip. The StealthSurfer is a privacy protection tool, not a security product–but as far as privacy tools go, it’s the best on the market, and it earns points for rolling so many powerful tools into an easy-to-use package.

The beauty of the StealthSurfer is that it’s convenient and easy to use, but it also puts you in charge of your own security. It’s available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB versions, starting at $179 for the 2GB and going up to $339 for the 16GB version. The device also works only with Windows XP, although Vista support is coming soon, and requires a USB 2.0 port to function.